Directions:

Mix ground beef, breadcrumbs, parsley, eggs, grated onion, soy sauce, and garlic powder in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Pinch off about 2 teaspoons of meat mixture per meatball and roll into small meatballs. Arrange meatballs in a large, deep baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven until meatballs are browned, about 25 minutes. Drain excess grease.

Combine jellied cranberry sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir the sauce until cranberry sauce has melted and brown sugar has dissolved.

Pour the sauce over meatballs and bake until sauce forms a glaze and meatballs are no longer pink inside, 25 to 30 more minutes.

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Baked Brie with Caramelized Pear, Shallots & Thyme:

Ingredients:

1 h 20 m

8 servings417 calories

1 tablespoon butter

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 pears – peeled, cored and sliced

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1 (8 ounce) round loaf sourdough bread

1 (8 ounce) round Brie cheese

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Assorted crackers

Directions:

Prep: 20 m

Cook: 1 h

Ready In: 1 h 20 m

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallot; cook and stir for 1 minute to soften. Add thinly sliced pears; cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in white wine, brown sugar, thyme, salt, and pepper; increase heat to medium-high and simmer until the liquid has evaporated, and the pears have lightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Cut a Brie-sized hole in the top of the sourdough bread to within 1/2-inch of the bottom. Cut the removed bread into pieces for serving, set aside. Score the Brie around its edge, using a paring knife to cut 1/4-inch deep. Cut in half by looping an 18-inch piece of very thin string, or unflavored dental floss around the scored Brie and pulling the ends in opposite directions.

Place the bottom half of the Brie, cut-side-up, into the sourdough loaf. Top with 1/2 of the pear mixture and sprinkle with 1/2 of the slivered almonds. Place the remaining brie half on top, spread with remaining pear mixture, and sprinkle with remaining slivered almonds. Place on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until soft and gooey. Serve with sliced sourdough bread and crackers.

Footnotes:

Tip: Aluminum foil can be used to keep food moist, cook it evenly, and make clean-up easier.______________________________________________________________________

Directions:

Place apple slices on a plate, overlapping slightly if necessary. Microwave on High about 45 seconds just until slices have softened a bit. Cover plate with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.

Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Roll puff pastry sheet to less than 1/8-inch thickness. Using a pizza cutter, cut two 3-inch by 12-inch rectangles. Reserve remaining pieces for another use.

Spread melted butter over dough; top with a generous amount of cinnamon-sugar. Place apple slices along 1 long edge of dough, about 1/4 inch beyond edge of dough, overlapping slices slightly. Fold the bottom half of dough over the apple slices to form a long “folder” of dough with rounded edges of apple slices exposed.

Beat egg and water together in a bowl. Paint surface of dough with egg wash. Sprinkle with more cinnamon-sugar, to taste.

Starting from one end, roll dough not too tightly to form a rose-shaped pastry. Seal roll with the end of the dough strip.

Transfer roses to prepared ramekins. Sprinkle with a little more cinnamon-sugar. Place ramekins directly on middle rack of preheated oven.

Bake until well browned, about 45 minutes. Remove ramekins with tongs and place on baking sheet to cool 5 to 10 minutes. Remove apple roses from ramekins and finish cooling on rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.

Footnotes:

Chef’s Notes:

If you don’t have a microwave, just sauté your apple slices in a little bit of butter over medium heat for about half a minute per side, or until flexible but not soft.

If you use a metal muffin pan instead of a ramekin, I would reduce the heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and cook about 45 minutes, or until the pastry is well browned.